In the center of Manchester Harpurhey, the smiling face of Bernard Manning looks out from his World Famous Embassy Club – straight into one of the black spots of British philanthropy.
Dole cash is a frequent topic of conversation here: how to get it, who got it and how to avoid losing it.
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Harpurhey is one of Britain’s welfare black spots Credit: STEVE ALLEN – Commissioned by The Sun
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Unemployed delivery driver Kim Whittaker, 58, lives on the Kingsbridge estate, which has a block of flats called Drug TowerCredit: STEVE ALLEN – Commissioned by The Sun
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Siobhan Lynch has been on benefits for 18 years, receiving £2,100 a month after being diagnosed with a range of medical conditions including depression and fibromyalgia Credit: STEVE ALLEN – Commissioned by The Sun
As new figures reveal more than one in five people in the UK are classed as economically inactive – meaning they don’t have a job and aren’t looking for one – The Sun spoke to locals in the impoverished town of 20,000.
We met a former waitress who has been claiming sick pay for 18 years, receiving £2,100 a month.
While an unemployed cleaner told us that the Government is making it too complicated to get payments.
On Tuesday, Employment Minister Alison McGovern admitted that claimants can get more money off sick leave than by working.
Speaking before the Economic Affairs Committee, Ms McGovern said the current system “doesn’t work for anyone” as it makes it harder for the long-term sick to find employment, while increasing costs for taxpayers.
And she described it as “sad” that more and more young people are being discharged with mental health problems.
Sickness benefit costs are forecast to rise to £65bn this year and reach £100bn by the end of the decade.
“Tough Love”
Analysis by the Center for Social Justice think tank found that people on the highest level of sick pay receive an average of £23,900 a year, while those on the minimum wage take home £20,650 after tax.
The number of people signed up with a long-term ill health has increased by 650,000 since the pandemic and now stands at 2.8 million.
Ms McGovern said: “Universal Credit was supposed to be designed as a system that would strongly encourage work and it turned out not to be the case.”
Bernard Manning tells his classic ‘Bisto joke’
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall launched their Get Britain Working white paper last month.
It sets an ambitious target of an 80 percent employment rate, which means putting two million young people back to work.
But while the Government says it will force the long-term sick into work or lose benefits, critics have slammed suggestions that it only plans to rename job centers and add more NHS nurses in areas with high rates of sickness benefit.
Employers across the country are crying out for workers, but many tell the same story – no one is responding to their job ads.
And if they are and they are offered a job, they don’t come forward to start working, they claim.
Many also believe that for some the leave never ended and that the Department for Work and Pensions is not built to cope with the huge volume of cases it would need to take on to solve the problem.
It will take tough love, but we must have expectations of work, where idleness is the exception, not the rule
Former Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary Sir Iain Duncan Smith
Even Sir Keir admitted last month that the Government must “come down hard on anyone who tries to game the system”.
Former Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary Sir Iain Duncan Smith told The Sun last night: “For too long, people on sick pay have simply not been spoken to.
“Many of them actually want to work but are worried about losing benefits.
“It’s going to take some tough love, but we have to have work expectations, where idleness is the exception, not the rule.
“For most people with anxiety and depression, work is actually a health treatment that earns them money and a sense of purpose, rather than leaving them on sick pay.”
Manchester has one of the highest proportions of “economically inactive” people in Britain, with a quarter of those aged 16 to 64 falling into that category.
One in five residents claims unemployment benefits.
Everyone here has benefits, but it is very difficult and complicated for me to get money. I had to borrow from my family. I would go to food banks and stuff without them
Julie Stealey
And in Harpurhey, locals are convinced it’s even higher.
Idle Peter Harris, 61, said: “It’s more like one out of three rounds here. Everyone seems to be receiving benefits.”
At Bernard’s Embassy club, which has now been converted into a pub, unemployed cleaner Julie Stealey, 46, who has been on benefits for five years, said: “It’s a joke, I’ve been waiting years for my money.
“Everyone here receives benefits, but it is very difficult and complicated for me to get money. I had to borrow from my family. I would go to food banks and things without them.”
Local Labor MP Graham Stringer, who was also a councilor in the area, said: “The factory jobs here were not replaced years ago.
“Now we have families with the third or fourth generation unemployed.
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Pensioner Alexander Timson said: ‘My pension credit has been cut. We don’t have much money to spare. I can afford food, but the bills and heating are the problem’Credit: STEVE ALLEN – Commissioned by The Sun
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Harpurhey is where comedian Bernard Manning founded the Embassy ClubCredit: Rex
“Those who are educated get a job at the airport or in the city center and then move out.
“We have a lot of people in Harpurhey who are just not used to working. Still, most are decent, hardworking people, although there are a few villains who ruin it for a lot of people.”
In a nearby shopping area, Siobhan Lynch, a disabled woman for many years, has to be pushed by her teenage son in a wheelchair to get to the store.
The mum-of-two has been on benefits for 18 years, receiving £2,100 a month after being diagnosed with a range of medical conditions, including depression and fibromyalgia, which causes chronic pain and fatigue.
The 42-year-old former waitress, who used to catch taxis to the shops, said: “There are too many people on benefits here.
“There are honest people like me who can’t work, but there are also a lot of people who shouldn’t be looking.”
Son Brendan, 18, is also unemployed and on benefits.
He said: “I can’t even get a job interview, it’s so bad here. So many people are receiving benefits.”
His brother Josh, 17, is studying to be a plumber, but he’s not sure he’ll get a job.
He said: “I’m going on an apprenticeship but I think I’ll get benefits too. All my friends think the same.”
In 2007, Harpurhey was named the poorest borough in England — and is still plagued by crime and poverty.
Unemployed delivery driver Kim Whittaker, 58, lives on the Kingsbridge estate, which has a block of flats called the Drug Tower.
There, hooded characters sell heroin and crack cocaine, while addicts shoot up the halls.
Kim said: “I’m too scared to go out at night. It’s a nightmare. There are drugs everywhere and lots of kids in gangs.
“I hate living here and I want to move out. Besides, I have mold in my apartment. I’m afraid I’ll get sick.”
Kim gets around £750 a month in Universal Credit and has been claiming it for several years.
She said: “It’s an easy trap to fall into when you’re on benefits. You become listless and a bit depressed.
“You don’t want to go out and find a job, but it’s boring. Things definitely got worse after Covid, when I got sick, and people just don’t want to work or can’t face it.
“But there are too many people on benefits. I think a lot of people just don’t like work.
“And they self-diagnose mental health issues when their work gets too much.
“I was working as a delivery driver, but there were certain areas that just weren’t safe. I would bring prescription drugs, and guys would come up to you and say: ‘Do you have this, do you have that?’ I was terrified that I would be robbed.”
And she had good reason.
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Harpurhey is home to the famous Bernard Manning club on Rochdale Road Credit: STEVE ALLEN – Commissioned by The Sun
Six years ago, deliverymen were attacked by 13-year-old teenagers who set up roadblocks to carry out robberies.
And delivery boss Parcel Partner Mark Livsey has designated Harpurhey and nearby Moston as “no-drive zones” for its drivers.
Mother-of-three Sarah Hughes, 39, said: “There are a lot of gangs here recruiting young kids. There are many problems on estates with young children delivering drugs.
“It can be quite scary.”
Unarmed air cadet Nathaniel Shani, 14, was stabbed to death with a knife and screwdriver in a row over stolen cannabis in September last year.
Just two weeks before his death, Nathaniel became involved in small-time drug dealing after being taken advantage of by older teenagers.
His baby-faced killers, Kyle Dermody and Trey Stewart-Gayle, were 14 and 13 at the time.
Back at the station, father-of-one Lee Jones, 37, said: “A lot of kids get into gangs because they don’t see a lot of it. There are jobs, but I don’t think people want them. They would rather sit and play video games and play on the advantages.”
Sitting on a bench near the market, pensioner Alexander Timson, 74, said: “My pension credit has been cut. We don’t have much money to spare. I can afford food, but bills and heating are a problem.
“I can’t afford heating all the time, that’s why we go out.”
His wife Valerie, 71, added: “It’s a struggle for a lot of people here. But we always worked and didn’t ask for benefits, unlike many of them.”
Harpurhey is the birthplace of A Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess.
It’s also where comedian Bernard Manning founded the Embassy Club, where he honed the act that would catapult him to stardom.
Bernard was a household name in the 1970s, appearing on the popular ITV stand-up show The Comedians, but died in 2007 aged 76.
The prankster was known for his profanity, and critics labeled some of his routines as sexist and racist.
His Embassy Club is now run by his son as a pub.
Smoking a cigarette outside the club, the waitress said, “At least now you can get up and go to the bathroom without Bernard nagging you about it. But it’s not what it used to be.”
The same can be said for Harpurhey.
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Sir Keir admitted last month that the Government must ‘get tough with anyone who tries to game the system’Credit: PA
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Liz Kendall launched her white paper Get Britain Working Credit: Alamy last month
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Former Conservative Work and Pensions Secretary Sir Iain Duncan Smith told The Sun: ‘For too long, people on sick pay have simply not been spoken to’ Credit: Alamy
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